Henry Rifle Forums

I'm considering getting jeep wrangler when I trade off my little toyota pickup... maybe a rubicon.. my nephew has had jeeps and he says he prefers the 5 speed manual over the 6 speed manual. And heathens the 4.0 motor, 6 cylinder over the 4 cylinder. Any jeep guys here that can throw in their opinions? Thanks

Well, the general consensus is to stay away from Stellantis products.

Toyota is the go to brand for reliability and customer satisfaction.

Out of curiosity why are you getting rid of your Toyota?

I had a 2010 JK Rubicon with a 3.8L EXA engine and 42RLE 4sp automatic for about 9 years. It was essentially bulletproof and the only fault that it threw was a leak from transmission cooler lines somewhere around 120k miles.

The 6sp manual in the JK generation didn't have a good reputation. But they replaced it with another 6sp for JL, that is a completely different design.

I was so happy with my union-made bailoutmobile, that when the time has come to replace the Rubi, I looked at a JL. The price jump was quite significant. I pad $32k in 2010, and a similar spec in 2019 was a little over $50k. But the real deal-breaker was the lack of headroom. In the JK, I modified the seat rails and dropped the seat a couple inches. But in JL that was impossible, because transmission intruded into the tub under a factory rail. I would pay the asking price if not for the hazard of cracking my skull upon the roll cage.

Jeep, Just Empty Every Pocket!

A year ago we bought a 2021 Wrangler Sahara. It had just under 50k on it and was in very nice shape. We bought it mostly to tow behind our motorhome and for that it’s perfect. I drive it once or twice a week but it’s not our “daily driver”. I find the seats to be very uncomfortable, they are leather and too hard. It would never do as a daily driver or driven on a long trip. Jeep Wranglers have a reputation of suffering from what’s called the “Death Wobble”. I’ve only experienced it once and it sure got my attention. So now I pay very close attention when I’m driving highway speed.

Oh yeah, 3.5 motor with a six speed auto. Very powerful, I have to be careful with the throttle as it is much more responsive than our Explorer.


https://www.wranglerforum.com/threads/d ... h.1987834/

I had a 2016 Jeep Wrangler Sahara. It had the 3.6 V-6 in it and I had no issues with it. We owned it about 4 years. I dont remember the mileage on it when we traded it off for the Honda we have now. I didnt use it for off road much. It was my wifes daily driver until she retired. When I retired and we were using it more to run to her sons house I got tired of the stiff ride of it as it was the 2 door. If I was to ever buy one again it would be the 4 door. The two doors ride to stiff for me on the junk roads we have here in Colorado

Last Jeep I had was a 1965 CJ5. V6, 3speed, 10 gal fuel tank, army green and canvas top. None of the gauges on the dash worked. Big off road tires.
It was my college commuter, 38 mile round trip. I frequently ran out of gas, but I had two 5 gallon jerry cans as backup.
Very stiff suspension and a bit too light for snow and heavy rain.

My 2nd one. Love it. Most fun I ever had driving. Drove diesel trucks for decades. 2025 Willys 4 cyl turbo. Goes anywhere you point it.

4 cyl better on gas, and holds 8th gear uphill on highway. 6 cyl would not.

RanchRoper, That is what a Jeep should look like. I love it!

Ozarkwoodswalker wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 23, 2025 4:37 pm

I'm considering getting jeep wrangler when I trade off my little toyota pickup... maybe a rubicon.. my nephew has had jeeps and he says he prefers the 5 speed manual over the 6 speed manual. And heathens the 4.0 motor, 6 cylinder over the 4 cylinder. Any jeep guys here that can throw in their opinions? Thanks

Since you are talking about 4.0 and 5 speeds, I’m guessing you are looking at TJs? I had an ‘05 TJ Rubicon with the 4.0 and 6 speed. It was an awesome Jeep. I would buy another one for sure to use as a hunting/fishing rig. Would I buy one to daily drive it? Probably not. My brother in law just bought one, almost identical to mine in February of this year. It’s absolutely mint and low mileage. It was a memory lane thing going for a drive in it.

We also had a 2011 JK Rubicon with the 3.8 auto. It was a better daily driver. Overall, a good rig.

If you are looking new, I’d probably put my money elsewhere. JLs are a lot of money for what you get, especially the Rubicon level. I still like them, and RRs looks terrific. I just cross shopped a 4 door Rubicon with 35” tire pack, 4 door Bronco Sasquatch and Toyota Land Cruiser 1958. We ended up in the Land Cruiser and couldn’t be happier. I put in a 2” lift and 33s and it goes everywhere we need it to.

Oh, and I posted the winter shots to help cool you guys in the Midwest down. You’re welcome.

^^^^^^^^^
It's Hot here also.... Thanks, buddy.

RP

Maybe 220 has some 'cool' pics to help.

Strongly recommend the Willys package over the cost of the Rubicon.
Willys has Rubicon shocks, suspension, tires, Dana axles, rear locker, lots of aux switches. Way less dough.

RanchRoper wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 25, 2025 11:44 pm

Strongly recommend the Willys package over the cost of the Rubicon.
Willys has Rubicon shocks, suspension, tires, Dana axles, rear locker, lots of aux switches. Way less dough.

And it looks cool too. I’ve had 2 Rubicons and a Tundra with front and rear lockers. I think I have used front lockers 4x in over 20 years. Rear lockers? They get used at least a couple of times per year.

Here the only jeep I ever owned, 1953 CJ3B. Kind of wish I still had it but don't know how I would do now without having the more modern features like AC in the summer and defrosters in the winter. Also was never really thrilled about sitting right above the gas tank.